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K-Mart - now you now the rest of the story.
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Posted by Robin Hood on January 24, 2002 at 15:14:16 from (63.159.194.248):
This here is Monroe County, PA, where i dun grew up. BTW, have any of you ever heard of J.J. Newberry?, another national dept. store started in Monroe Cty. He put the 'K' in Kmart
By DAVID PIERCE
Pocono Record Writer
dpierce@poconorecord.com The once-mighty Kmart department store chain, which filed for bankruptcy this week, was created decades ago as part of the legacy of a frugal, hard-working, clean-living philanthropist who called Monroe County home. Sebastian Kresge, founder of the S.S. Kresge chain which later became Kmart, was born on July 31, 1867, in Lackawanna County. But he spent much of his childhood in Kresgeville, named after his ancestors, where Kresge honed his skills as an entrepreneur. He spent his twilight years in Mountainhome. A six-word speech Kresge delivered during a 1953 building dedication at Harvard University's Business School may best sum up the quiet, non-drinking, non-smoking Kresge. "I never made a dime — talking," the multi-millionaire said, then sat down. Kresge's business career began at age 14, when a neighbor gave him a beehive. Within five years, he turned it into five beehives and gave the profit to his father to pay for his education. He attended several local schools, including Fairview Academy in Brodheadsville and the Polytechnic Institute in Gilbert. He moved on to Eastman Business School in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., returning to Monroe County to teach at the Gower School for $22 a month. Later he delivered groceries, owned a bakery that went broke, was a produce wholesaler, sold insurance and was a traveling tinware salesman. During the depression of the 1890s, Kresge repaired rusty stoves and saved $8,000 to go into business. In 1897, Kresge bought a "five-and-dime" store in Memphis, Tenn., with partner J.G. McGrory, who was one of Kresge's tinware customers. By then, McGrory already had been operating a chain of five-and-dimes. A year later they bought a second store in Detroit. In 1899, Kresge traded his stake in the Memphis store for sole ownership of the Detroit store. By 1909, Kresge had 42 stores. In 1920, the chain grew to 184 stores. By the time Kresge retired in 1925, the company had 306 stores. Kresge stayed on as chairman of the board until 1965, when he resigned at age 98. By then, S.S. Kresge Co. owned 915 stores in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. The first Kmart opened in 1968, as a subsidiary of the Kresge Co. The S.S. Kresge chain became Kmart in 1977. "There was no secret to my success," Kresge said during his 90th birthday celebration in Mountainhome. "I was at the right place at the right time and people were ready for the five-and-ten." At age 98, he commented, "When one begins at the bottom and learns to scrape, everything comes easy." The short, stocky man was a staunch advocate of prohibition. He once said, "I never gave a dime" to any church whose pastor used tobacco. But he gave big bucks to charity. In 1924, Kresge established the Kresge Foundation, of which he was one of five trustees, with a $1.3 million gift. According to a Life magazine article, Kresge donated $65 million to the foundation by 1957. The foundation helped create the Children's Village near Detroit for underprivileged children, while assisting schools, homes for the aged, YMCAs and missions. Kresge was a chief contributor to the former Monroe County Hospital, now part of Pocono Medical Center, and to the Stroudsburg YMCA. Kresge's son, Stanley, who replaced his father as board chairman, gave away hundreds of millions more through the Kresge Foundation. Sebastian Kresge died in East Stroudsburg General Hospital at age 99. Though considered a long life by anyone's standards, his mother and grandmother lived past 100.
Copyright © January 24, 2002, Pocono Record
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